Carmichael's Pub owner Chris Carmichael says the stresses of dealing with kitchen workers lead to his decision to close his business' kitchen.

— The owner of a Dayton tavern known for its wings and burgers said the stress of working with some local cooks led him to close his kitchen.

“Nobody wants to work. People lie. People steal (food),” Chris Carmichael, the owner of Carmichael’s Pub, 3011 Wayne Ave., told us in October. “People say they’ve been doing it 15 years, and they can’t make a hamburger or a grilled cheese (sandwich).”

Things boiled over and Carmichael decided he couldn’t take it anymore in October after someone left a freezer door open, causing the food inside to spoil.

Carmichael's Pub, 3011 Wayne Ave., is the place to run into neighbors and regulars in the Walnut Hills neighborhood. Walnut Hills sits on about 250 acres of Dayton land running the length of Wayne and Wyoming Avenues up to Watervliet Avenue and Pursell Avenue. VIVIENNE MACHI / STAFF

“It became too much stress,” Carmichael said.

There have been other problems, too.

After being at the business four hours, Carmichael said he went to watch his daughter cheer out of town only to be called and told there was only enough ground beef in the restaurant to make three hamburgers. Customers have called him to complain of hour-long waits for hamburgers.

Before closing the kitchen for good, Carmichael said he had to comp $143 in food in one day due to failures in the kitchen.

“We are doing better now that we don’t have a kitchen than we did because I am spending less money out of my pocket,” he said, noting that other tavern owners he’s talked to have experienced similar troubles with kitchen help.

“It’s laziness,” Carmichael said. “They jump from one place to the next.”

Of all the kitchen workers he’s employed, Carmichael said only four have been true cooks.

“I’ve hired 60-year-old people and I’ve hired 20-year-old people and I’ve had a problem with all of them,” he said. “The mentality of kitchen help was more than I could take. I just said, ‘I can’t take it anymore.”